What is Neuroendocrine Cancer?

Sometimes a disease is so obscure that it only gets publicity when linked to a personality in the news. Such is the case with neuroendocrine cancer.

Few Americans had heard of this type of cancer until they learned that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had surgery for this condition in 2004 and was treated for it in Switzerland in 2009, CNN reported.

Overview

According to Cancer.net, neuroendocrine cancer involves both the nervous system and the endocrine system. A neuroendocrine tumor arises from the cells that produce hormones in the neuroendocrine system. These cells are a cross between the traditional cells in the endocrine system and regular nerve cells. They occur throughout the human body, particularly in the digestive tract and in the lungs. They have specific functions, such as controlling how fast food moves through the gastrointestinal tract.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center indicates that neuroendocrine cancer is so rare that it accounts for less than one percent of all malignances in the United States. Experts estimate that fewer than 2,000 new diagnoses are made in the U.S. each year.

The only way to accurately diagnose this type of cancer is examination of a tissue sample by a pathologist. Another lab result that makes doctors suspicious of the illness, however, is elevated levels of certain substances in a patient’s urine.

Signs and Symptoms

Cells of a neuroendocrine tumor typically produce hormones and resulting symptoms. However, since some cells don’t, those patients don’t experience symptoms.

This type of cancer arises in various parts of the body. The most common areas are the gastrointestinal tract, brain and lung. Among the most common symptoms are having either too much (hyperglycemia) or too little (hypoglycemia) sugar in the blood, diarrhea, pain that won’t go away in a particular area, and weight loss linked to decreased appetite.

Also typical are a persistent cough or hoarseness, unexplained weight gain, a lump or thickening in the body, jaundice, and persistent fever or night sweats. Some patients report changes in bowel or bladder habits, uncommon bleeding or discharge, headaches, gastric ulcer disease, or anxiety.

Risk Factors

A number of risk factors are associated with developing neuroendocrine cancer, which has many types. One type is most common between the ages of 40 and 60, while another tends to strike individuals over 70. Men are more predisposed than women are to developing two types.

Neuroendocrine cancer is more common in Caucasians than in individuals of African-American or Asian descent, although individuals in those two groups do develop it. In some patients, doctors consider the disease hereditary.

Individuals who are immunosuppressed due to illnesses like HIV or because of medications they’re required to take face an elevated risk. Sun exposure is also a risk factor for Merkel’s cell cancer, one type of neuroendocrine malignancy.

Types of Neuroendocrine Cancer

Experts recognize many kinds of neuroendocrine tumors. However, three types are the most common.

A pheochromocytoma occurs in cells that release adrenaline and noradrenaline during stress. The patient’s blood pressure and heart rate increase. This type of tumor most often appears inside the adrenal glands and can be life-threatening.

Merkel cell cancer is also known as neuroendocrine cancer of the skin. This rare form is very aggressive. It occurs in the head and neck area. It originates in cells beneath the skin and in hair follicles.

Neuroendocrine carcinoma refers to a tumor that can’t be assigned a specific type of neuroendocrine cancer. This accounts for around 60 percent of diagnoses.

Treatment

In general, when compared to more common cancerous tumors, neuroendocrine tumors are relatively slow-growing. However, some of them produce amino acids linked to very pronounced symptoms. For this reason, experts recommend aggressive treatment.

Options for treating neuroendocrine cancer include surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. Depending on a patient’s circumstances, he or she might receive any of these treatments or a combination of them.

Sources:

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/01/18/steve-jobs-went-to-switzerland-in-search-of-cancer-treatment/

http://www.cancer.net/patient/Cancer+Types/Neuroendocrine+Tumor

http://www.upmc.com/Services/liver-cancer-center/diseaseswetreat/neuroendocrine/Pages/default.aspx